School of Biological Sciences

Dr. Chang is the director of the Comparative Neuromechanics Laboratory in the School of Applied Physiology. His research program focuses on trying to understand how animals move through and interact with their environment. He integrates approaches and techniques from both biomechanics and neurophysiology to elucidate both passive mechanical and active neural mechanisms that control limbed locomotion in humans and other terrestrial vertebrates. This multidisciplinary approach allows him to test hypotheses about the basic design and function of the locomotor apparatus throughout a variety of conditions. His current goal is to understand the extent to which muscular reflexes can influence limb coordination during locomotion and how global limb control strategies may be affected by sensorimotor perturbations.